Inside - Coordinates

government, and re-engineer the manner
in which services are provided to common
citizens. Under its ‘one-stop non-stop’
approach, a pilot project called TWINS
(Cities Integrated Network Services)
integrated 18 services of six departments
over one counter. It provides fast and easy
access to government services, makes
the government appear much simpler,
and also cuts down on corruption.
The government is able to keep database
of citizens, which helps in better targeting
of welfare programmes and minimise
misuse of funds; Virtual town hall
meetings allow citizens to watch the
proceedings of municipal meetings, and
also enable them to participate in decisionmaking,
which otherwise is not subject
to public debate. This participation in the
form of interactive sessions, panels and
discussion groups, planning consultations,
chat lines, and electronic online voting
is becoming commonplace. Expanding
cable television networks have made
it possible to deliver the electronic
information into the homes of the people.
The Government of Andhra Pradesh has
come up with citizen utility centres called
e-Sewa Centres, which are one-stop shops
for various services such as payment of
electricity, water and phone bills, property
tax, sales tax and getting birth and death
certificates. More than 20 centres are
operating in Hyderabad. These centres are
being opened in other parts of the State.
HARIS in Haryana
The HARIS (Haryana Registration
Information System) provides a
facilitates the registration of property
documents. It functions very much
like the SARITA of Maharashtra. The
experience shows that e-Governance
has improved public service, which has
huge potential of its applications.
Land Management Information
System of the DDA
The LMIS project was started in 2001
to computerize the village wise land
S.No. Activities Status (2007)
1.
Villages where DDA has acquired
land or acquisition under process
238 villages
(227 + 11)
2.
a) Data entry of land records of acquired/
under acquisition village
238 villages
(227 + 11)
b) Preparation of land inventory
of Nazul Villages
3
c) Cross checking of inventory prepared
Scanning of maps (massive / sajras) of
acquired or under acquisition villages:
227
3.
Good
Bad / tattered
Not available
Digitisation of maps
4. a) Villages in which acquisition took Place
187
b) Villages under acquisition process
8
5. Validation of maps 176
6. Integration of land records with digitized maps 161
inventory of the Delhi Development
Authority (DDA). The objective of this
project is to have accurate and readily
available information in respect of DDA
lands and its utilisation. The information
used for this project is based on the records
of DDA and the records of L&B Deptt.,
and Divisional Commissioners, GNCTD,
The experience of the LMIS project
indicates the following major problems:
• Incomplete Land Record Registers.
• Non-availability of old records such as
Notifications under Section-4 and 6,
Awards, Possession proceedings etc..
• A number of shazra land maps
/ records (massive) are either in
tattered condition or not available.
In such cases, the digitization of villages is
done on the basis of field books and sajras
available with the revenue authorities. The
LMIS attempts to depict a coordinated and
layered set of land information relating
to status of acquisition / ownership, land
use, compensation paid / due, utilisation,
transfer, court cases, its development
/ services, encroachments, and other
relevant information. This will provide a
clear picture of all lands on the computers.
The way forward
A lot needs to be done to offer better
governance. The adoption of e-governance
by local authorities can simplify things
and improve government. Local bodies
need to dispense unclassified information,
which is useful to the public, through
their websites. This will not only save the
time and resources of the local bodies, but
also make the task easier for the public.
• Information on building codes
and development plans can be put
on web-sites. Such information
is already available to the public
some cities in India and abroad.
• New projects and layout plans
etc. approved by local bodies
can be put into a website, so that
people can access the information
and avoid buying properties in
certain unapproved projects.
• Information like a cut in water
supply and power can be
announced on the sites itself.
• All the applications / forms for
services offered by local authorities
can be made available online.
• Committee reports and enquiry reports,
which are not confidential, should also
be placed on websites for public view.
• Payment of property tax and other
bills needs to be made online to
make it easier for the public.
• Customer service cells can be created
at the local level. These can look
after the complaints and suggestions
registered online as well as cover the
phone. There should be a strong backup
system to take action against these
complaints and send the feedback to the
person who has filed the complaint.
Coordinates October 2007 | 27